In this illuminating and thoughtful book, Will and Ariel Durant have succeeded in distilling for the reader the accumulated store of knowledge and experience from their four decades of work on the ten monumental volumes of "The Story of Civilization." The result is a survey of human history, full of dazzling insights into the nature of human experience, the evolution of civilization, the culture of man. With the completion of their life's work they look back and ask what history has to say about the nature, the conduct and the prospects of man, seeking in the great lives, the great ideas, the great events of the past for the meaning of man's long journey through war, conquest and creation - and for the great themes that can help us to understand our own era.
To the Durants, history is "not merely a warning reminder of man's follies and crimes, but also an encouraging remembrance of generative souls ... a spacious country of the mind wherein a thousand saints, statesman, inventors, scientists, poets, artists, musicians, lovers, and philosophers still live and speak, teach and carve and sing..."
Designed to accompany the ten-volume set of "The Story of Civilization, The Lessons of History" is, in its own right, a profound and original work of history and philosophy.
Preface
Chapter 1 : Hesitations
Chapter 2 : History and the Earth
Chapter 3 : Biology and History
Chapter 4 : Race and History
Chapter 5 : Character and History
Chapter 6 : Morals and History
Chapter 7 : Religion and History
Chapter 8 : Economics and History
Chapter 9 : Socialism and History
Chapter 10 : Government and History
Chapter 11 : History and War
Chapter 12 : Growth and Decay
Chapter 13 : Is Progress Real?
Bibliographical Guide
Notes
Index
